The Rice Thresher | Wednesday, March 1, 2023

The first thing to know about Reginald DesRoches is that he prefers to go by Reggie. He’s also a Jets fan and the first Black president of Rice University. But above all else, according to his wife and three children, he’s the most competitive person they know.

Work-life balance has been hard, because I’ve said yes to everything ... Next year, I’ll be a little bit more judicious about what I go to and how I spend my time.

Reggie DesRoches

RICE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT

“I like to win, in everything,” Reggie said. “[My colleagues] might describe it as ambitious … [but] I’m never satisfied. I always want to be better, I [never want] to say ‘this is good enough.’ It’s not good enough until we are the absolute best. That’s just the way I am.”

The youngest of four, Reggie’s love for competition was first realized in Queens, New York, where he would race and play sports with his siblings. His family moved to New York City from Haiti when Reggie was just 1 year old, and aside from an annual road trip to Niagara Falls, the city was all he knew until he flew across the country to attend college at the University of California, Berkeley.

“[Growing up], I lived in a Caribbean, working-class community … that was my entire life until I went to Berkeley,” Reggie said. “I didn’t know anything but Queens.”

RICE ON FIRE: Prairie Plot reborn through controlled burn

RIYA MISRA FEATURES EDITOR

Rice’s Crisis Management team supervised a prescribed burn at the Prairie Plots, a 10,000 square foot plot of prairie garden on the south lawn of the James Turrell Skyspace, next to the Shepherd School of Music, on Tuesday, Feb. 28. Prescribed burning is a common practice and involves intentionally setting a controlled fire to maintain prairie vegetation. Maggie Tsang, an assistant professor at the Rice School of Architecture who created the installation, said that the Prairie Plot was installed nearly a year ago to reduce maintenance efforts for the previous turf grass.

Part of the intention of this prescribed burn was to show how, rather than having regular mowing or maintenance and irrigation ... it really only requires a simple annual burn.

Maggie Tsang PRAIRIE PLOT CREATOR

“We’ve seen [the Prairie Plot] go through various seasons: the drought, as well as intense growing seasons into the fall and through dormancy in the winter,” Tsang said. “Part of the intention of this prescribed burn was to show how, rather than having regular mowing or maintenance and irrigation of the space, it really only requires a simple annual burn.”

Berkeley was where Reggie discovered the two loves of his life: his wife, Paula, and civil engineering.

According to Paula, the couple met early in her freshman year, his junior year. The two became friends, but waited a while before they started dating.

“There was a gathering of freshmen, and there were upperclassmen giving advice to freshmen students, and he was one of them giving advice. Imagine that,” Paula said. “He was eyeing me. He claims that my eyes were on him; I disagree, but that was the first time [we met].”

A year later, in 1989, the 6.9-magnitude Loma Prieta earthquake rocked the Bay Area, causing more than $12 billion in damage, injuring over 3,700 people and killing 63. Reggie said the aftermath of that disaster, particularly

the partial collapse of the Bay Bridge, was what sparked his interest in civil engineering.

“From where we were on campus, you could see the smoke [from the Bay Bridge],” Reggie said. “That really sparked my interest in studying earthquakes. I was so close to finishing [a] mechanical [engineering degree], I ended up finishing [undergrad] as a mechanical engineer and then switching over to civil [engineering] for my graduate work.”

After staying at Berkeley to complete his Ph.D., a decision he will neither “affirm nor deny” was influenced by Paula’s presence in the Bay Area, Reggie began teaching civil and environmental engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology.

Tsang said that the prescribed burn has been in the works for a few months, requiring collaboration from people and departments across Rice, including Risk Management, Crisis Management Team, the Arboretum Committee and Facilities Engineering and Planning.

“It’s the first time in recent history that we’ve done a prescribed burn, so it was really trying to understand the institutional measures and safety measures that needed to be in place so that we could conduct this burn safely,” Tsang said. “We collaborated closely with the Houston Fire Department, as well as Texas Parks and Wildlife Department to understand the various weather and climate factors that would be optimal for a safe burn.”

Jerusha Kasch, director of Institutional Crisis Management, said that CMT was present during the burn and implemented safety measures to keep burn personnel, nearby buildings and the Rice community safe.

“We [established] a secure perimeter during the burn, and RUPD [was] posted to keep onlookers clear of any danger,” Kasch wrote in an email to the Thresher. “We [maintained] alternative traffic flow –namely closing sidewalks for pedestrians and prohibiting parking for vehicles –throughout the area.”

One of the largest challenges when planning the burn was finding a set date, according to Tsang. A successful prescribed burn depends on a number of factors, including dryness, wind and humidity, which are difficult to predict in advance.

“One of the interesting things about planning for a burn is that there’s quite a lot of contingency,” Tsang said. “It’s hard to plan around uncertainty … It’s not easy to pinpoint an exact date, and that sometimes can be at odds with the planning and scheduling at a university-wide level.”

On a larger scale, Tsang said that the prescribed burn served two purposes: to maintain the natural vegetation of the land and also to keep the Rice students informed about natural ecological cycles.

“It’s important to realize that there’s a seasonality to these landscapes,” Tsang said. “My hope is that the Prairie Plots grow that awareness, even if it’s not so super direct.”

‘I don’t like to lose’:

CHANNING WANG / THRESHER

Reggie DesRoches puts work and family first — but won’t say no to a good game of Monopoly

BEN BAKER-KATZ EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

SEE REGGIE PAGE 6

KATHERINE HUI / THRESHER

MOB presents SA resolution targeting Pep Band

MARIA MORKAS ASST. NEWS EDITOR

A student resolution to restore Rice University’s Marching Owl Band as Rice athletics’ official basketball band waS presented at the Feb. 20 Student Association senate meeting. The resolution also calls for the compensation of MOB members and the establishment of a student-led task force to accomplish these initiatives.

Rijuta Vallishayee, the drum major for the MOB, and Ryan Mbaushu-Ndip, the drum minor for the MOB, said they wrote this resolution to raise awareness about the implications of the presence of the pep band’s presence for the MOB during the fall and spring semesters.

“We also advocate for more transparency from Rice Athletics going into the future regarding all athleticsadjacent organizations, including The MOB, Rice Cheer and Rice Dance,” Vallishayee said.

Deputy athletic director Rick Mello said athletics’ focus is to continue to build on the progress that the pep band has made and evaluate once the season is done.

“We recently met with MOB and student government leadership and indicated that we will engage our student body and campus in gathering feedback,” Mello said. “We will also include members of the Rice Community including fans and stakeholders in the process.”

Mbaushu-Ndip said the MOB staff has been the primary source of opposition to the pep band.

“We have found that our many appeals to the athletics department have been ignored,” Mbaushu-Ndip said.

Vallishayee said that the MOB has played at Rice’s athletic events without compensation for a century.

“Rice Athletics decided to replace The MOB at indoor sports events with a paid pep band whose restricted instrumentation would prevent many of our members from playing at indoor sports events and erase our tradition of student leadership at these events,” Vallishayee, a junior at Martel College, wrote in an email to the Thresher. “Though representatives of Rice Athletics and the new director of the pep band met with the MOB in the fall to convince MOBsters to join the pep band through negotiation, they failed to open up their instrumentation

[to accommodate the large variety of instruments that MOBsters play].”

This resolution also establishes the Rice Athletics Fan Experience Task Force, led by a designated member of the MOB. According to Vallishayee, the goal of the task force will be to advocate on behalf of the MOB in the dispute. In an amendment to the resolution on Feb. 27, SA voting members added that the task force will be annually presented for renewal by the end of February until its deemed dissolution.

Vallishayee said that the ideal outcome of this resolution would be Rice Athletics

restoring the MOB as the indoor pep band and compensating its members similar to the pep band, which she said would allow more students to participate in the paid opportunity of playing at Rice games.

“In this way, Rice could have more consistent pep band attendance, maintain the long-standing traditions we’ve developed for volleyball and basketball that were lost when we were removed from Tudor Fieldhouse and bring our unique performance energy back to games,” Vallishayee said.

Ruth Simmons to serve as president’s distinguished fellow

BONNIE ZHAO MANAGING EDITOR

Ruth J. Simmons, former president of Prairie View A&M University and president emerita of both Brown University and Smith College, will join Rice University as a president’s distinguished fellow beginning April 1, 2023.

President Reggie DesRoches said that Simmons will work with a variety of programs across campus and advise the president’s office on various matters, in addition to collaborating with faculty and staff on various initiatives.

“Ruth is one of the most highly regarded higher education leaders of our generation,” DesRoches wrote to the Thresher in an email. “Ruth has a long history with Rice, as a former trustee and an advisor on various initiatives at Rice … Her role will not be confined within a department or unit on campus, so I expect her impact to be across various areas on campus.”

Simmons also served on Rice’s board from 2014 to 2018 and was the keynote speaker for DesRoches’ inauguration last year. According to Simmons, it was her

extensive history and connection with Rice that motivated her to accept the role.

“My association with Rice as a trustee, as well as my involvement with a number of other efforts at the University, proved to be among the most satisfying experiences following my return to my hometown after my Brown presidency,” Simmons, a Houston native, said. “I am familiar with the quality of Rice leadership and the international standing of the university. I greatly admire President DesRoches and look forward to the influence he will have locally and nationally. Why would one not wish to be involved with the University during this period of time?”

Simmons said she wishes to be of assistance to Rice in any way that the faculty and administration identify as important, with a special focus on increasing diversity and inclusion.

“I want to continue to speak and write on subjects that relate to diversity and inclusion in higher education,” Simmons said. “As a former director of AfroAmerican Studies at Princeton and past chair of the Afro-American Studies Visiting Committee at Harvard, I will be pleased to assist [Rice’s Center for African and African

American Studies] in any way they deem useful.”

During her time at Rice, Simmons said she will also be advising Harvard University on developing a partnership with HBCUs and continue her role as a member of the White House Commission on HBCUs.

“Whatever knowledge and experience I have gained over my decades of leadership in high education is available to [Rice] university,” Simmons said. “I look forward to opportunities to make use of that experience for the benefit of Rice.”

DesRoches, who has referred to Simmons as one of his mentors in the past, said that Simmons is down to earth and student centric despite being one of the most well respected leaders in higher education.

“I first met Ruth while she was serving as a Rice Trustee in 2017. I have kept in close contact with her since that time and frequently seek her guidance on a range of areas related to higher education leadership … It is great to have her as a Fellow at Rice,” DesRoches said.

BRANDON CHEN / THRESHER

Ruth is one of the most highly regarded higher education leaders of our generation. Her role will not be confined within a department or unit on campus, so I expect her impact to be across various areas on campus.

Reggie DesRoches RICE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT

KATHERINE HUI / THRESHER

A student resolution to restore Rice University’s Marching Owl Band as Rice athletics’ official basketball band waS presented at the Feb. 20 Student Association senate.

BISF hosts Russia-Ukraine panel near one-year anniversary of the war

The Baker Institute Student Forum hosted a panel discussion on the RussoUkrainian War on Feb. 22, two days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s fullscale invasion of Ukraine. The panel included discussions of the war’s recent developments and its global energy implications.

The panelists — Robert Idel, Director of Auction Economics at Tripadvisor and former Baker Institute Center for Energy Studies graduate fellow, Dan Wallach, professor of computer science and of electrical and computer engineering and Peter Hartly, professor of economics — touched on everything from cyber warfare to energy economics to who really blew up the Nord Stream pipeline.

BISF Co-President Thomas Kovac said that a diverse array of panelists was intentional as the leadership team wanted to provide the opportunity for Rice students to understand the various aspects of the current state of the war.

“As the war approached its one year mark, we wanted to put on a panel that would provide students with an update on

the situation,” said Kovac, a Wiess College senior. “We selected panelists with a wide variety of expertise including cyber warfare, energy and economics so that students could learn about the war from multiple perspectives.”

Idel said that he was pleasantly surprised that BISF asked him to participate in the panel; he hoped that having a European background helped him bring a valuable viewpoint to the discussion.

Wallach said this panel was particularly enjoyable as it was a chance for him to interact with scholars in fields outside of his own.

shooting questions at each other, and it’s probably one of the best parts about being a professor,” Wallach said.

Hanszen College junior Toni Odufuye, who attended the discussion, said that she left the panel nervous for the future state of the war.

“The idea that it could escalate with possible nuclear attacks or anything of that nature … was a big wakeup call,” Odufuye said. “Overall, [the panel] made me a little bit more nervous than I already was.”

Odufuye asked the panelists about their predictions for the environmental effects of the Russo-Ukrainian War, and Wallach’s answer was not optimistic.

Robert Idel

“As someone who has grown up in Germany, who has spent his entire school life talking about the Second World War, [I became] sensitized to the sides of war not talked about,” Idel said. “That’s why I was focused on bringing up the game theory in [the Russo-Ukrainian War], because that’s something that’s usually not mentioned in the media.”

“It was fascinating sitting next to a game theory expert,” Wallach, a Baker Institute scholar, said. “None of this is simple, but bringing together diverse perspectives gives you intuition that you could never have with just a singular expert, even if they’re the ‘right’ expert.”

While BISF moderators and audience members primarily asked questions to the panelists, the panelists also posed questions to one another at multiple points during the discussion.

“That’s what happens when you take a bunch of random experts and throw them around a dinner table. They just start

Professor emeritus Sam Davis remembered

Sam H. Davis Jr. (‘52), a professor emeritus of chemical engineering and former director of the Office of Continuing Studies, died on Dec. 25 at 92.

Davis became a professor at Rice in 1957 after receiving a doctoral degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and working briefly for General Electric. He taught for more than four decades and was active in Rice student life, serving as an interim magister for Jones College and as an associate for both Jones and Sid Richardson College.

In 1980, Davis hired Kyriacos Zygourakis, the A.J. Hartsook Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering, who said his

relationship with Davis spanned more than four decades.

“You have the feeling from the first moment, really, that he cared. He cared about people, he cared about his faculty, particularly the younger ones, like me,” Zygourakis said. “You know, the first time you’re [on faculty], and you look up to somebody for help … He was one of the kindest people and most willing to help with the little details adjusting to the new environment.”

George Hirasaki, a professor emeritus, student and colleague of Davis’ in chemical and biomolecular engineering, said Davis played a huge role in the beginning of his own academic career.

“In 1963, Professor Sam Davis taught the first year graduate students,” Hirasaki said. “I got [the textbook] before he even started classes and just read it … I couldn’t understand [it]. But when he started lecturing, I could follow what he was saying and it made perfect sense to me. So that’s why it was a big transformation for me and that was a big impression that he left … I still frequently use what I learned from Professor Davis that first semester at Rice.”

Paul Cloutier, a professor emeritus of physics and astronomy, knew Davis as someone who always had a vision for Rice’s future.

“My memories of him are very positive. He was a very nice and interesting person who always interacted with me in a very friendly and engaging way. I believe he believed in working to

make Rice as good as it could be and helping all those who shared that vision,” Cloutier wrote in an email to the Thresher.

Davis was dedicated to teaching and continual learning, directing the Office of Continuing Studies, which has since grown to become the Glasscock School of Continuing Studies, from 1969-1973. Robert Bruce, dean of the Glasscock School, said that Davis’ vision was instrumental to the development and expansion of Continuing Studies at Rice.

“[In] the first couple of years … there was a question about whether to continue [Continuing Studies] or not,” said Bruce. “He was a huge proponent that we just started and [that] we need to invest in this and continue doing it. And I think that was really telling about what he saw in the future because he was serving let’s say 200-300 people a year. Now

“Only bad,” Wallach said. “They’re only bad.”

Idel said that he hoped students weren’t too discouraged by anything they heard to pursue more research into the war.

“I hope we didn’t discourage [the students]. I hope nobody left with a bad feeling about the state of the world,” Idel said. “There’s a saying that the first thing that dies in wars is the truth. I hope we planted a seed in people’s minds on how ambiguous [war] is, and how important it is that they find the truth.”

conservatively, we serve about 18,000 students.”

Zygourakis said that Davis significantly impacted his approach to teaching.

“The thing that really remains to me after all these years is the impact he had on education here at Rice. He was a good scientist, don’t get me wrong, but his commitment to education was unmatched,” Zygourakis said. “Sam actually was the first person in engineering, at least that I knew, who was using undergraduate [teaching assistants]. So that’s the thing that [I] actually remember most vividly about Sam and our undergraduate TAs, you know, sitting in the conference rooms and basically solving all the problems [and] running the course … Sam was really ahead of his time. He basically taught me how to actually teach.”

Hajera Naveed contributed additional reporting for this story.

There’s a saying that the first thing that dies in wars is the truth. I hope we planted a seed in people’s minds on how ambiguous [war] is, and how important it is that they find the truth.

FORMER BAKER INSTITUTE CENTER FOR ENERGY STUDIES GRADUATE FELLOW

He was a good scientist, don’t get me wrong, but his commitment to education was unmatched.

Kyriacos Zygourakis

A.J. HARTSOOK PROFESSOR OF CHEMICAL AND BIOMOLECULAR ENGINEERING

COURTESY PRISCILLA HUSTON

COURTESY PRISCILLA HUSTON

MEGHAN PARAL / THRESHER The Baker Institute Student Forum hosted a panel discussion on the Russo-Ukrainian War on Feb. 22

ZEISHA BENNETT / THRESHER

Asfouri selected for Churchill Scholarship

degree in electrical engineering and neuroscience.

Joseph Asfouri, a Sid Richardson College senior, was recently one of 18 U.S. college students selected as a recipient of the Churchill Scholarship at the University of Cambridge. Asfouri is now the second person in the last three decades at Rice to receive this prestigious award, according to Center for Civic Leadership Fellowship Director Danika Brown.

Asfouri, a prior recipient of the Barry Goldwater scholarship, said he is excited to continue the research he has been doing at Rice in neuroengineering. He will graduate in May with a double

Hailing from Austin, Asfouri said he knew he wanted to attend Rice because of the transformative neuroengineering work happening on campus and across the street at the Texas Medical Center. Beginning his second week of school, Asfouri joined Jacob Robinson’s neuroengineering lab at Rice. and since then he has been a part of research initiatives at Baylor College of Medicine, University of Washington and Weill Medical College at Cornell University.

“I am very fascinated with mathematics and biology alike, so I decided to pursue this intersectional neuroengineering from both directions,”

Asfouri said. “Curricularly, I have followed the course requirements. But in my research, my background is taking the form of engineering in both the software and hardware side. On the hardware side has been … building devices that can interface with the nervous system. And on the software side, that takes the form of building algorithms which can make decisions on what activity or what information we read and write from and to the brain.”

Robinson, associate professor of bioengineering, said that Asfouri came into his lab freshman year with incredible talent and contributed key research findings to his lab.

“Thanks to his contributions we can now measure magnetic properties of nanoparticles at different magnetic field frequencies,” Robinson said. “Joseph is not just an exceptional young scientist, but he’s also an exceptional young man.”

Brown said that Asfouri’s commitment to ethics and integrity in his research helped him stand out as an applicant.

“I definitely think the reason he won is that he has a really clear understanding of why he is doing what he is doing,” Brown said. “And he is committed to doing that work with integrity and in an ethical fashion. He asks more than just questions about what’s next for the research, but what are the implications of the research for society? And so, he’s asking really thoughtful, important questions.”

Asfouri said he is excited to work in Europe to attain a new perspective on how scientific research interacts with industry.

“Entrepreneurship is one aspect of my career that currently I have a weakness [in], but eventually I want to pursue as a way to quickly and expediently [translate] and [commercialize] medical devices so that they can get to the clinic faster,” Asfouri said. “So that they can be

commercialized safely and accessible for every section of society.”

While in Cambridge, Asfouri will be taking classes to obtain a Masters in biotechnology, while also conducting research with bioelectronics expert George Malliaris. His research focuses on designing neural devices that are less invasive and do not require surgery to implant.

“I think Cambridge, historically, is a very fascinating place,” Asfouri said. “Some of the greatest scientists of all time either studied there [or] conducted their research there. In neuroscience, specifically, there has been quite a bit of fundamental research going on there.”

Aside from his research, Asfouri also dedicated time during his undergraduate years developing FIRST at Rice, a student club that mentors K-12 robotics teams throughout East Texas with a specific focus on underprivileged areas. Asfouri said he founded this club because he developed key technical skills as a result of strong robotics mentors he had in high school.

“Giving [students] the opportunity to develop these skills will lower the barrier when they enter college,” Asfouri said. “The inequality in a city like Houston, there’s a cycle that [these students] are trapped in. And I think STEM is the gateway out of this cycle of inequality.”

Beyond FIRST, Asfouri is also a captain of the Rice Rowing Team and plays piano to decompress from academic studies. Asfouri said he enjoys seeing how his work in neuroscience relates to these extracurricular activities.

“[Playing piano] is sort of a singular task with a defined solution that I can just focus on,” Asfouri said. “I feel like when I play, I’m not the one doing it. [It’s] really the brain that remembers. [It is] muscle memory. The complexity of the motion, you wonder, what is the evolutionary reason that enables us to do this?”

HAJERA NAVEED NEWS EDITOR

EDITORIAL

Beer Bike accommodations are common sense

During the Student Association senate meeting on Monday, Feb. 27, student leaders shot down a proposed resolution calling for the Faculty Senate to prohibit midterm exams or major assignments being scheduled during both the week of and after Beer Bike. Though we agree with the SA that this proposal is far too unrealistic to ever get through Faculty Senate, there is some merit in the intentions behind it. As part of the Rice community, faculty should understand the cultural significance of Beer Bike as the ultimate Rice tradition — for all of campus — and consider avoiding scheduling exams or major deadlines immediately after it.

To be clear, we don’t believe the university can or should force faculty to change their syllabi around Beer Bike. However, we believe it’s in the best interest of students and faculty alike to consider the effect of student participation in Beer Bike. It is unreasonable to expect that this cultural event, that by its very nature includes large amounts of socializing and a disastrously little amount of sleep,

GUEST OPINION

won’t impair academic performances the following Monday.

If the faculty’s ultimate goal is to help students learn, they should recognize that students likely won’t do their best work during this time, and having exams or

Faculty should understand the cultural significance of Beer Bike as the ultimate Rice tradition — for all of campus — and consider avoiding scheduling exams or major deadlines immediately after it.

important assignments due at the start of the following week sets students up for failure. We don’t see why professors cannot work around Beer Bike in their syllabi the same way they would (or are supposed

The case for letting the

In his 1995 essay “The Case for Letting Malibu Burn,” historian Mike Davis advocates for a “controlled burn” of the opulent — and wildfire-prone — California city. Continuing to pour resources into attempts at shielding Malibu from the natural fire cycle, Davis argues, is an unsustainable practice with numerous opportunity costs to the greater community.

I invoke Davis’ essay title because the Student Association, like the insular fire zone he describes, faces its own legitimacy crisis. As evidenced by this year’s slew of uncontested races and a track record of low voter turnout, student apathy toward the SA runs rampant. Make no mistake, our community faces problems that demand action, but a question emerges: should Rice’s premier student government body still be framed as the main conduit for change? Put another way, is it time for a controlled burn of the SA?

Logically, two primary options exist: try to work from within the SA structure or invest our limited time, resources, etc. into alternative forms of activism. Although the two aren’t entirely mutually exclusive and I believe the SA has utility in certain situations, I generally believe Rice would be better off with a paradigm shift away from SA-centric activism.

When the advice students receive from those in positions of authority is an almost automatic suggestion to write a non-binding SA resolution, Rice’s activist culture — or lack thereof — shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. After all, most SA legislation, despite requiring weeks of work and bureaucracy, fails to materialize into tangible change. University administration rarely implements SA recommendations. Perhaps lackluster internal and external

READ

SA engagement isn’t the underlying illness, as the Thresher Editorial Board implied several weeks ago, but a mere symptom of an organization with intrinsic limitations.

Take what is arguably the SA’s crown jewel achievement this year: a successful attempt to make the 2024 presidential Election Day a non-instructional day. I fully support this measure, but does the type of change the SA can create come anywhere close to matching the material

to) work around a midterm recess. With that in mind, we also strongly encourage Rice Program Council to decide on Beer Bike timing as early as possible, so that all of campus can prepare in the way we are asking them to.

We know that the idea of academics being second to drinking and partying is unfathomable at an institution like Rice. But Beer Bike cannot be equated to deciding to grab a drink at Pub the night before an exam. The latter is pure irresponsibility on the students’ part, while the former is a campus event and tradition that not only enriches the Rice culture, but also expects the participation of all students.

The possibility that any student might decide to miss out on this annual experience to not fail an exam or bomb a presentation is a shame that should be avoided at all costs. The idea behind Beer Bike is that literally everybody should participate. We believe faculty should recognize that by designing syllabi accordingly and, when that isn’t possible, be flexible in their deadlines.

SA burn

Yet seemingly everywhere, from residential college emails to the pages of the Thresher, we repeatedly center the SA as the go-to agent of change. This is all the more troubling considering how activist resources are, by and large, zero-sum: every hour devoted to an SA resolution or committee directly trades off with an hour that could have been spent on other endeavors. Not only that, imagine if the spotlight the SA receives was redirected to the wonderful grassroots organizing work being done by activists outside of student government. Such a shift in focus might encourage other students, seeing desires to make an impact become actualized, to join these more meaningful and effective efforts.

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impact of other activist organizations? Rice Mutual Aid, for example, has collected and distributed tens of thousands of dollars to low-income students. (I should add that, unlike the SA, RMA has accomplished this feat without the public platform of aroundthe-clock Thresher coverage).

Similarly, there are countless ways to get involved beyond the hedges. While activism for many at Rice starts — and stops — at fruitless voting initiatives (a topic that could take up a whole article by itself), Houston is full of groups engaged in direct action and community organizing. The Houston Tenants Union has helped secure life-changing housing rights victories. The Houston Abolitionist Collective, to name another, builds community safety beyond the prisonindustrial complex through educational events and materials, mutual aid, etc.

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If the fundamental goal of activism is to leave our community in a better place than we found it, one of the first steps is determining which mechanisms and institutions can or can’t bring about the changes we want to create. Maybe the SA fizzling out of relevancy isn’t the crisis some claim it to be, but a welcome opportunity to transform activist discourse at Rice. Students losing faith in the SA isn’t some enigmatic phenomenon; it’s the natural progression of an organization whose design was always going to let us down—the natural fire cycle at work, if you will.

It’s time to move on and allocate our activist resources elsewhere. It’s time to embrace a controlled burn.

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Maybe the SA fizzling out of relevancy isn’t the crisis some claim it to be, but a welcome opportunity to transform activist discourse at Rice.

Tyler Kinzy WIESS COLLEGE SOPHOMORE

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Rice must make a public commitment to publishing measurable sustainability goals and data.

He had been at Georgia Tech for more than a decade when a magnitude 7.0 earthquake struck his home country of Haiti. Three days later, a colleague called to ask if Reggie wanted to join a team of engineers traveling to Port-au-Prince to assess the damage.

“We ended up going on day seven, which was crazy, because they were still finding people alive and bodies were still in the streets,” Reggie said. “We [didn’t] know how we’d get there or when we’d get back, it was pretty chaotic … We ended up sleeping in a tent, my first time in a tent, at the airport.”

Reggie ended up taking numerous trips to Haiti after the earthquake, spending 12-hour days assessing damage and determining the structural soundness of remaining buildings. According to Paula, the trips had a visible effect on his emotional state.

“Every time [he] would return, [he was] sort of drained, emotionally,” Paula said. “I think it was just the devastation of the whole experience.”

Despite the emotional toll, Reggie felt the work was rewarding, both personally and professionally.

“It was my first time back to Haiti [as an adult] … It was good for me to be able to give back to the country of my birth, [and] it absolutely helped my career in terms of [putting me] on the national scene.”

Reggie was promoted to the chair of civil and environmental engineering at Georgia Tech in 2012, and shortly after, was approached for even higher positions by other universities. According to Jacob, Reggie and Paula’s second son, the family quickly realized Reggie was bound for bigger things.

“When he started getting job offers [and] looking elsewhere other than Georgia Tech … we knew that he was potentially moving to the next level, but it wasn’t for the majority of my childhood,” Jacob said. “I thought they’d be in Atlanta the rest of my life and that he’d be at Tech forever.”

Reggie became the dean of engineering at Rice in 2017 and quickly rose through the ranks, becoming provost in June of 2020. In November 2021, Rice announced DesRoches would be its next — and eighth — president. According to both Reggie and Paula, the transition from dean to president happened incredibly quickly.

“It was definitely a lot faster than I anticipated, but that’s life,” Reggie said. “You can plan all you want, but you have to be ready when the opportunities come.”

Eight months after he stepped into the role, Reggie said the job has been nothing if not eventful, both literally and figuratively. He’s tried to attend as many events as possible in his first year, based on advice he received from Ruth Simmons, the former president of Brown University and the first Black woman to lead an Ivy League university.

“[Ruth] told me, ‘Your first year, Reginald, go to everything. Be visible, be out there,’” Reggie said. “Part of that strategy was then, in subsequent years, if you don’t go [to a certain event], people will forgive you because they’ll say, ‘oh, he went last year, he must be really busy.’”

A few months into his tenure, and just a few weeks into his first semester, Reggie received a difficult diagnosis. Religious about regular check-ups due to a family history of prostate cancer, Reggie noticed

his prostate-specific antigen numbers kept rising during his yearly screenings. To be safe, he got a biopsy, which came back positive. Though doctors said that he caught it as early as possible and could have waited, he decided to have it removed in what would be the first surgery of his life.

“I thought about waiting for the summer, but for me, mentally, I [wanted] it done and beyond me,” Reggie said.

In the interest of transparency, the DesRoches family decided it was best to issue a statement addressing his diagnosis and procedure. There was, however, one person Reggie decided not to tell: his father, who lives nearby in an assisted living facility.

“We thought, ‘Well, he’s 91 years old; we don’t have to tell him, he won’t find out,’” Reggie said.

“And of course, it made it to the [local] newspaper. So we walk in there [one day] and he’s like, ‘Why didn’t you tell me this? What’s going on? You can’t do this.’”

Other than incurring the wrath of his father, Reggie and Paula said the whole ordeal was less stressful than anticipated. Today, their focus remains on health as well as maintaining as strong a work-life balance as possible.

“Work-life balance has been hard, because I’ve said yes to everything I can fit in … There might be days where I go to four or five different things,” Reggie said. “Next year, I’ll be a little bit more judicious about what I go to and how I spend my time.”

Part of that allocation includes making time for his family, which Jacob said is something upon which Reggie has always placed a premium.

“[At] our sporting events, school … He [was] always there, no matter how busy he was,” Jacob said. “You can really tell he loves being around his family.”

Shelby, Reggie and Paula’s

“He makes an effort to be there for everything, [especially] family functions, but he’s always working,” Shelby, a Sid Richardson College senior, said. “It’s kind of incredible to me, how much he can multitask.”

But valuing time with his family doesn’t mean Reggie loses his competitive edge when he’s around them. For the last few years, the extended DesRoches clan has taken holiday gatherings as an opportunity to split into teams and compete in cooking competitions.

“About a month before [the competition], the trash-talk text messages start,” Reggie said. “This year, we had this thing where people had to announce what they’re making, and I sent out a press release [explaining] what we were making and why, this is the context and the history behind our dish … It’s gotten out of hand.”

This past New Year, Reggie and his team made a gumbo dish that earned second place (first place went to a lobster bisque). The competition was particularly intense, according to Andrew, Reggie and Paula’s oldest son, who still thinks that he and his father’s team was robbed of a victory.

“I think that’s the loudest the house has ever been,” Andrew said. “We should have been first, the [gumbo] was really good … we were stirring that thing for hours.”

Aside from cooking competitions, the DesRoches are also keen players of card and board games. According to Andrew, Reggie is particularly good at Taboo, and Shelby even went so far as to accuse her father of cheating at Monopoly, an accusation Reggie denied unequivocally.

“I’m just really good at Monopoly,” Reggie said. “My best friend, when we were 5 years old, he lived across the street. So he’d walk over, and we would play Monopoly until like 6 a.m., [so] I understand Monopoly. I know which properties are the best — it’s not the most expensive [ones]. Yeah, I know the game.”

Although a self-professed fan of dayto-day competition, Reggie values his down time. And as his time at Rice has progressed, he’s learned how to take a step back on occasion and enjoy the show.

“The other day I was at [a Rice] baseball game, and I could’ve gone to the boxes — though I still don’t know exactly how to get to the boxes — and I thought ‘man, this is a beautiful day, I’m just gonna sit out here by myself,’” Reggie said. “I just wanted to

I’m just really good at Monopoly ... I know which properties are the best — it’s not the most expensive [ones]. Yeah, I know the game.

Reggie DesRoches RICE UNIVERSITY PRESIDENT

CHANNING WANG / THRESHER BRANDON CHEN / THRESHER KATHERINE HUI / THRESHER

Before and After

ACROSS

River blockers

Actor Baldwin

Jazzy dance Forbidden

____ Alto, California

The Thresher column

Horror author who climbed the Empire State?

Kim’s humorous ex

Catch

Creepy Krueger

Transcript stat.

Still-life fruit

Connects (with)

Some are fine

Sine’s reciprocal, abbr.

Pop star Lavigne

Blemish

Guitar attachment

da Vinci’s portrait of Bart’s sister?

Proper partner?

Silent performer

_____ pie

Yes, on a ship

Beehive, for one

Art supporters?

Dies ____

Select

Tony and Oscar

Sushi tuna

Old Testament book

Animagus in your area?

Minerals

Islamic leader

Rihanna’s cosmetics brand

Meetup, slangily Location

First-person shooter game, abbr.

Senior Spotlight: Sofi

Aguilera blends art, work

Upon the release of “Andromeda,” Aguilera said she received immediate support from the Rice community.

When Brown College senior Sofi Aguilera first wrote her fantasy book, “Paragon,” she didn’t know she was about to become the youngest published author in Mexico. Now, five years and a book series later, Aguilera is preparing for a full-time role at a California-based venture capitalist firm and, of course, still writing.

Aguilera began writing at fifteen as an outlet to express the emotions that arose from her own life.

“I never felt I could express my emotions in a safe way with anyone, so I started doing so through my books,” Aguilera said. “[My characters] are very explosive with their emotions because it was everything I had suppressed.”

“Paragon,” which was published in 2018, is the first book in Aguilera’s “The Lost Origin” series. The series follows seventeen-year-old Matt Anderson, who discovers he has superpowers after his parents’ murder. At 17, Aguilera translated the book into Spanish, published it and sold 5,000 copies in her first year.

Aguilera said she decided to pursue self-publishing for her latest book “Andromeda,” which was published and listed on Amazon on Jan. 25, 2023.

“When you see [your book] on a computer it’s very different from holding it,” Aguilera said. “The Rice community’s very supportive. I feel like we like helping each other out, so that’s helped a lot.”

With multiple published books, Aguilera is no stranger to the daunting writing process. Aguilera said she blocks out full days to write. She begins by fleshing out her characters and their motivations — including the antagonists.

“Finding their humanity was really important,” Aguilera said. “I feel like that’s what makes a good villain, when you notice that they’re just human beings also trying to do what they think is best.”

When Aguilera wrote “Andromeda,” she prioritized historically accurate mythology in her writing. Now, she plans to use her bioengineering degree to write novels based on real research and innovation.

“Bioengineering is the field that’s turning science fiction into reality,” Aguilera said. “If I want to write better stories, I have to understand the science behind them.”

Aguilera finds stories everywhere: she interned at a venture capital firm specializing in biotech start-ups last summer and was inspired by the advanced technologies she saw.

“I asked my boss, ‘How do you know who has a good startup?’ [My boss said] the most important thing is how well they can tell a story,” Aguilera said. Aguilera said she looks forward to graduating and dedicating more time to her books. Her active imagination leaves her constantly dreaming up new book ideas, but she reminds aspiring writers that the only way to turn ideas into published works is to put pen to paper.

“A lot of people wait for the right time … there’s never a right time to write. If you have an idea, just write,” Aguilera said.

What someone might do with their

Marriage Pact match, say

Lend a hand

Sulk ___ CAH TOA

Sleep disorder

Superior or Victoria

Inventor Whitney

Festive downpour

Wild card

Apple music player

Sell

Bold

Recipe meas.

Sports cable channel

Mardi ____

Aquatic lung

Writing

Florida city

Tusk material

Bert’s buddy

once

Antonio landmark

class

Tell someone a movie’s ending, perhaps

cream holders

track?

for aspiring MDs

fashion retailer Transfer, as money

god of war Touched down “Planet of the ____” Dynasty known for fine porcelain Upon

What’s up?

Weight-to-height ratio, for short Col. Sanders’s chain

Spring break plans that’ll save you bucks

SARAH KNOWLTON ASST. FEATURES EDITOR

The infamous college spring break is (thankfully) nearly here. While these breaks are often associated with lavish and loud trips to the likes of Cancun and Aruba, the Thresher rounded up a few enjoyable ways to spend the upcoming break that won’t shatter your bank.

Pitch a tent

If one of your friends has a cool dad, borrow a tent and go camping. From the deserts of New Mexico to the plains of the panhandle, Houston is pretty close to some of the best camping in the country. Round up your friends, load up the car with plenty of snacks and spend a night or two sleeping under the stars.

Freeload a little

Get your tuition money’s worth by taking advantage of all the free stuff available to Rice students. Houston is home to dozens of renowned museums, galleries and a 55-acre zoo, all of which are free to Rice students. Check out the mineral collection at the Houston Museum of Natural Science or watch the elephants bathe at the Houston Zoo. Just make sure to bring your student ID.

Go for a ride

Newbie Texans and native Houstonians alike may be surprised to learn that Houston is home to its very own Amtrak station. With fares sometimes in the single digits, the Amtrak can be a great form of carless travel on a budget. Texan destinations like San Antonio and Austin are often the most affordable, but the station also offers

trains to Oklahoma, Louisiana, California and more.

Visit Galveston

Sure, the water may be a little bit questionable, but there’s no denying the great spring break vibes that a beach day can have. Put on your cutest swimsuit, make a reservation at Rainforest Cafe and pretend you’re in Cancun for a day.

Take a road trip

As long as you know someone with a car, you have access to some of the most popular destinations in the South for the price of a tank of gas. From New Orleans to Oklahoma City, there are plenty of major cities and tourist traps just a few hours away. Grab your friends, put your Spotify blend on shuffle and hit the road.

Movie marathon

If you’re not planning on leaving campus over break, take advantage of your college’s empty lounges and host a movie night. Hold all your friends hostage to watch the entirety of your favorite film franchise or, if you’re lucky enough to have your crush on campus with you, throw a romantic movie date.

SEJAL GUPTA FOR THE THRESHER

HAI-VAN HOANG / THRESHER

ZEISHA BENNETT / THRESHER

Body swaps, zombie girlfriends and cover letters: Seniors talk Creative Writing

“It’s from Haitian folklore … a type of undead person who becomes a slave after they’ve died. That’s very interesting and unique to Black history specifically … As a Black person in theatre, as a queer person in theatre, it’s easy to see how we often get excluded from these types of art forms and I wanted to create something for myself to see myself and people like me in this art form,” Chambers said.

Carren said that her work is inspired by her own struggles with mental health, as well as her love for sci-fi movies. She said that her favorite part of her piece is the worldbuilding aspect.

“I can create characters that are really weird and funny, but because of the world that they live in, it’s considered to be normal. We can really push the envelope as much as we want,” Carren said. “It’s the fact that I’m allowed to be as wacky as possible that makes me have the most joy while doing the script.”

some sort of humor and levity, so that both the author and the reader can at least take a little bit of joy in the story.”

Wagnon said that one of the challenges she has faced has been not giving too much of herself to the reader and finding stories to tell that she was comfortable telling.

“It is really important to prioritize one’s own physical and mental health by not mining your own emotions for content in a way that harms you. One of the ways I’m working to overcome that is by telling stories in different, covert ways,” Wagnon said. “I wrote one of my essays through the medium of a cover letter, exploring the trauma of the college application process and moving from high school into adulthood. The form of the cover letter lightens the topic.”

Marinelli said that hearing about people enjoying her work is an amazing feeling as a writer.

Savannah Carren’s senior project starts with murder by peanut butter and jelly knife. The piece, which Carren is currently working on for the English major’s creative writing concentration, is a high concept science fiction screenplay about body swaps, struggles with mental health and the general malaise of life.

Carren started working on her project for the Senior Seminar and Research Workshop during the summer, and her idea for her script solidified in the first three weeks of class.

“Like everybody else’s projects, it’s an ongoing process. It kind of lives with you … so we expect for the projects to be constantly changing as we go through the semester,” Carren, a Jones College senior, said.

CG Marinelli, a Hanszen College senior, is working on a zombie rom-com screenplay inspired by a plot bunny, a story idea that was stuck in her head, from her friend during her junior year of high school.

“I had so much fun with it, but I got to a point where I was stuck, and I put it away

for several years,” Marinelli said. “Then I took a screenwriting class my junior year of college. As I started to learn more about the form, the story grew and changed and became something that I love even more.”

For her senior project, Alejandra Wagnon is working on a collection of short creative nonfiction essays exploring themes of sexuality, imagination and perceived reality. She said that she didn’t start working on her project until October.

“I started off my senior project with a different idea of doing a screenplay that was a parody of ‘The Bachelor,’ but I decided to put that on hold,” Wagnon, a Wiess College senior, said. “I discovered that I really liked writing about my own stories and using humor to try and connect with other people.”

Akaya Chambers, a Martel College senior, is writing a full-length play about zombies in an indeterminate future, and said that she chose the form because of her prior experience with playwriting and love for science fiction. Chambers said that she was inspired by researching the history of zombies and her own experience in theatre.

Bull ride and barrel race at the Rodeo

HADLEY MEDLOCK A&E ASST. EDITOR

Everyone say “yee-haw” because it’s that time of year again — the weather is finally back in the 80’s, midterm assignments have every Rice student in tears and the annual Houston Rodeo has come to town. Running from Feb. 28 to March 19 at NRG Park and attracting around two million visitors each year, even if you haven’t yet been to the Houston Rodeo you’ve probably heard about it. While this might not be your first rodeo, it may be your first in Houston, so here’s the Thresher’s guide to navigating the Houston Rodeo this year.

Getting In

While you may be able to snag tickets from some Rice Program Council giveaway, nothing is guaranteed. Individual tickets for entrance to the rodeo events as well as the nightly performer start at $25 each. If you’re only looking for a grounds pass to enter the carnival, see the horse show or dine and shop, tickets start at $20. However, this is not the best option because it only lets you enter NRG Park events, not the actual rodeo and performances in NRG Stadium.

Rodeo Events

Although riding a horse may not be your thing, going to the Houston Rodeo isn’t complete without actually seeing a few of the competitive events they host. From bull riding to barrel racing, Houston Rodeo hosts a 20-day tournament-style competition bringing the best riders from around the state.

Other than these competitions, the rodeo also hosts a variety of exhibitions and other shows. Boasting more than 30,000 entries, the Houston Livestock Show is the biggest in the world and shows off animals from dairy cattle to llamas and alpacas. Mutton Bustin’ is often a fan favorite as five and six-year-olds attempt to hang on the back of a running sheep without falling off.

Performances

If you’re like me and not afraid to admit you like country music every now and then, the Houston Rodeo brings in some big names. Hopefully singing “Chicken Fried” and “As She’s Walking Away,” the Zac Brown Band is playing March 5. If you like to turn on a Spotify private listening session and secretly listen to “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy,” you’re also in luck — Kenny Chesney performs on March 15. And, if you love the song “Tennessee Whiskey”

While her piece may have some deeper undertones, including commentary on idealized beauty and Karen culture, Marinelli intends for her screenplay to be fun and entertaining.

“I am someone who appreciates super profound writing, but I am also someone who will voluntarily sit and read garbage on Kindle Unlimited for hours,” Marinelli said. “I feel like a lot of English majors take their work too seriously … That’s just kind of the environment of being in academia.”

Wagnon expressed a similar sentiment, saying that she tries to prioritize having fun while working on her project.

“Especially in creative nonfiction writing at the college level, I think there’s a lot of stories that revolve around very intense topics and traumas, which isn’t a bad thing at all,” Wagnon said. “But I think that when we are exploring stories of such heaviness, it’s really important to balance them with

“One of my favorite parts about the workshops are when people sit down like, ‘CG, I was reading this in a public place, and they were looking at me like I was fucking crazy, laughing [out] loud to myself!’” Marinelli said. “When I was in high school and middle school, I never let anyone read my stuff … Rice’s English department has really helped me get over that fear and become the kind of person who will just read it aloud.”

Carren said that one of the most important things aspiring writers can be is brave and willing to take risks.

“People will consider English to be a lesser major … People will tell me that I’m going to work at Starbucks. You actually have to be one hundred percent willing to know that you are a good writer before you start writing,” Carren said. “I’m just so happy to have the opportunity to be able to do this. The more that I write, the more that I discover about myself in my own writing. You have to go into it knowing that it’s okay not to know.”

as much as I do, Chris Stapleton graces the rodeo’s presence on March 16. The only two women in the lineup this year, Lauren Daigle and Ashley McBryde, perform on March 2 and March 9, respectively.

For those who don’t appreciate country music, the rodeo still has you covered. New Kids on the Block will perform on March 7 and rapper Bun B will perform on March 3. The Chainsmokers, known for catchy earworms like “Closer” and “Just Like This,” will be playing March 10. Or, if you’re in love with an emo girl, you can hear Machine Gun Kelly sing about it on March 14.

The full lineup is available on the Houston Rodeo website.

Food Options

Not a fan of live music? Test your stomach with foods that were never really intended to be fried or dining options on a stick. The fried red velvet cupcake from Sills Funnel Cakes was voted the best dessert last year and the bacon mac and cheese eggroll from the Finer Diner was hailed as the rodeo’s best new flavor. Other foods to look out for include huge stuffed turkey legs, great barbecue options and classic corn dogs.

GENESIS HAHN / THRESHER

The more I write, the more I discover about myself in my own writing. You have to go into it knowing that it’s okay not to know.

Savannah Carren JONES COLLEGE SENIOR

SHREYA CHALLA THRESHER STAFF

VIVIAN LANG / THRESHER

Senior Spotlight: Multi-hyphenate Daniel Cho composes life after Rice

MICHELLE GACHELIN A&E EDITOR

From music composition to multivariable calculus, one prolific artist has excelled at it all. Daniel Cho, a double major in violin performance and composition at the Shepherd School of Music, began playing the violin around the age of five and won a competition for his first original composition at the age of nine. In addition to his impressive portfolio, Cho is minoring in business and is set to intern in Los Angeles this summer at Crowe, a global accounting firm, before returning to Rice to earn his Masters in Accounting. He hopes that his experience in finance will be another string on his bow to position himself in Los Angeles long term, where he can begin composing music for film soundtracks.

“I’ve been told a lot, as far as the film industry is concerned, that you have to be willing to take on whatever projects you can,” Cho, a McMurtry College senior, said. “But then the fact that I do have this sort of day job situation lined up for me also makes me feel like I don’t have to be bound as much by just taking whatever I can get. And then I can, perhaps just because of that financial stability, be a little more discriminative about which projects I want to take and which projects I don’t.”

Last summer, Cho was accepted into a seminar program at New York University, which culminated in a recording session with the Budapest Film Orchestra, the creatives behind the soundtracks of

“Star Trek” and “Mulan.” He said that composing music for film requires him to become a chameleon by sticking to the director’s vision. However, he also believes that there is value to be found in deviating from the script, so to speak, and refining his unique voice as an artist while still retaining a breadth of impact to diverse audiences.

“Something that I quote that I heard recently [is] about how in gift giving, everybody focuses so much on giving a gift that’s supposed to be personalized to the person that’s giving it, that sometimes people don’t think a lot about giving a gift that’s personalized [from] the person that’s giving it,” Cho said. “So in a way, I’m trying to see how as a musician, I can make music that’s similarly not generically suited to the film that it’s supposed to work for, but also indicative of the kind of musician that I am and how I can work that personal touch into the film score.” As someone who grew up in Michigan, which he describes as not very diverse, Cho says that part of discovering his artistic voice lies in returning to his Korean American heritage. He recently began working for a program within the Houston Asian American Archive to collect and document stories from AAPI individuals. Another project that honors Cho’s heritage is a standalone organ piece he plans to perform for his mom, who works as a music director at a church.

“My parents went through college in an era where there was a lot of political unrest in Korea — there were demonstrations and

riots,” Cho said. “What I’m doing with this piece is I’m taking the melody from one of the songs that was emblematic of those protests in South Korea, and I’m reworking it into an organ piece where that melody isn’t very clear for most of the piece, but towards the end, it kind of shines through and you realize that it’s been there all along.”

Cho says that his parents have been extremely supportive of his music. Since his dad is also an accountant, he says his parents represent his quantitative and artistic sides, almost like his right and left brain hemispheres. According to Cho, both parents helped instill his strong sense of work ethic.

“Everybody has their own preconceived stereotypes about what it is like growing up in an Asian American family, and I can’t speak to the validity of how true those stereotypes are beyond my own personal experience,” Cho said. ”But what I will say is that we had an extremely work-oriented mindset. And when I was growing up as a musician, I feel like I was just very, very imbued with this mentality of learning by doing.”

Along with learning how to work hard, Cho said that he and his parents are also learning how to have fun and enjoy themselves more. Now that he’s a senior, Cho said that he has more confidence in himself outside of external validation since struggling with his mental health as an underclassman.

“[I was] also dealing with the insecurity of social impostor syndrome, where I felt

coming out of homeschool and not really knowing how to exist in a way that felt satisfying to me,” Cho said. “And also partly growing up in whitewashed areas, where I felt like I didn’t know the right way to be Asian, if that makes any sense. So now that’s something that I’m coming back to and realizing that I feel a lot more comfortable with. It’s not something that happened overnight, but it’s something that I kind of just woke up and realized … It’s just gone now.”

Cho says that he’s always on a journey of self-discovery, and that his support system at Rice has been invaluable.

“Overall, college has been such a tremendous period for me that I’m kind of sad to leave,” Cho said. “It’s very bittersweet, because even though I’ve dealt with so many difficulties, and I’ve had challenges, I feel like coming out of those challenges and learning all the lessons that I have has been really, really valuable … Long story short, I’m vibing. I’m happy.

Review: Bluestone Lane makes a splash in Rice Village

When it comes to gluten-free alternatives, the hope is often merely for an option as tasty as its gluten counterpart, but the banana bread challenged these low expectations. This is a great banana bread, and although fairly dense, it won’t leave you feeling too full. The texture is consistently soft and velvety, with chunks of baked banana and nuts interspersed throughout. The only thing lacking was the fresh berries that accompanied the bread.

CAMILLE

Aussie-inspired cafė Bluestone Lane just opened its doors in Rice Village, so naturally, the Thresher came running with our camera and very best brunch outfits.

MICHELE GACHELIN, RIYA MISRA & CAMILLE KAO

A&E EDITOR, FEATURES EDITOR & VIDEO EDITOR

Australian-inspired, New York-based Bluestone Lane just opened its second Texas cafė in Rice Village, so naturally the Thresher put on our nicest Sunday brunch attire (featuring Riya’s best boxer shorts), grabbed our camera and headed over to check it out. With its seafoam-blue tiles and beach-themed decor, including numerous fake ferns, Bluestone’s interior is reminiscent of a middleaged woman’s bathroom. Admittedly, the decor is more appropriate when considering that the cafė caters to working professionals with readily disposable incomes, hence the $9.50 charge for a berry smoothie. Although the menu prices were exorbitant, the food and coffee were incredible.

Bluestone’s demand was clear from the moment we walked in and were promptly

placed on the waiting list. The reservation system was their first shortcoming — instead of a typical buzzer or phone number system, one of the staff members wrote our name down on a piece of paper and called out our names as tables became available. Although inefficient, Bluestone deserves the benefit of doubt because of its relatively new status, though hopefully they flesh out a better reservation system in the future.

As self-professed breakfast enthusiasts, we were incredibly eager to try the number of brunch items offered from the all-day “brekkie” menu. Although boasting slightly less variety than other popular brunch places like Snooze, we were excited to try their lemon ricotta pancakes, the folded chimichurri eggs and bacon on toast and the avocado smash, which we opted for on gluten-free bread.

The avocado smash was deceptive at first glance, almost like an Aussie-inspired cafė with no actual locations in Australia. For

$13.50, the dish appeared to be a very standard avocado toast garnished with a generous helping of feta cheese and micro greens. To our pleasant surprise, it was one of the best avocado toasts available in Houston. Our favorite addition would have to be the dried chili flakes and chili oil that line the outer rim of the plate alongside a creamy avocado sauce. Adding the chilis to the toast gives it an energizing flavor kick, making this a light and refreshing breakfast option.

The main star of the chimichurri dish is definitely the bacon, which is just about perfect. It’s not fried to a crisp, but also not soggy or limp, nor overly salty. The scrambled eggs on the toast have a nice fluffy texture, but they definitely feel like they are the side chick to the bacon, which is fine. The chimichurri lined along the plate tasted incredibly fresh, and its slightly bitter and earthy taste paired well with the savoriness of the eggs and bacon.

As caffeine enthusiasts, we also wanted to try Bluestone Lane’s coffee. Their Aussie iced latte comes with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. This adds creaminess and substitutes for regular ice cubes without diluting the drink (is ice cream to an iced latte as whiskey stones are to whiskey)? Although not a novel idea — try Teahouse’s Vietnamese iced coffee with ice cream just a short walk away — this XL affogato hits the spot.

We also tried their cappuccino and iced oat flat white, the latter of which is pronounced the best in the world on their website. It just might earn the title. Topped with an oat milk foam, the nuttiness and dark chocolate flavors of the coffee pair well with minimal bitterness. The cappuccino, on the other hand, was slightly under-frothed and clashed a little with the flavor profile of the coffee, making it difficult to taste. Its redeeming factor was the tulip-shaped art in the foam, which is always a pretty touch.

Overall, Bluestone Lane tastes light, fresh and expensive. They put their money where their mouth is, though. For scraps of avocado toast, we would live inside their coastal oasis in the center of Rice Village’s sweltering strip mall. Maybe when we’re older with yoga classes and Schnauzers of our own, we’ll be able to enjoy the menu without breaking our budgets, but for now, we’ll stay in our lane.

KAO / THRESHER

Partly growing up in whitewashed areas, where I felt like I didn’t know the right way to be Asian ... Now that’s something that I’m coming back to and realizing that I feel a lot more comfortable with.

Daniel Cho

MCMURTRY COLLEGE SENIOR

KATHERINE HUI / THRESHER McMurtry College senior Daniel Cho spoke to the Thresher about composing music, post-graduation plans and Korean American identity.

Fast start propels WBB past Charlotte on Senior Day

Starting an all-senior lineup, the Rice women’s basketball team never trailed on their way to a 64-52 win over the University of North Carolina at Charlotte on Saturday. The Senior Day win improved Rice to 20-7 on the year and marked their eighth consecutive home win.

According to senior forward Ashley Austin, the emotions of Senior Day helped fuel the Owls’ strong performance.

“We always celebrate each other, but for some reason, [today there] was just an insane joy and happiness,” Austin said. “Every time I saw my teammates score, I scored like you could just feel the energy. I think that really carried us throughout the game, offense and defense, just playing together being excited for each other…we were really together.”

The Owls’ chemistry was on display throughout the game, as they controlled the pace of play with quick passes and open shots in the halfcourt. Rice out-assisted Charlotte 17-3 on the day, with senior point guard Destiny Jackson racking up 9 assists. According to senior forward India Bellamy, the Owls defense helped kickstart their offense.

“I feel like we were able to get a lot of stops and that was spilling into our [offense] today,” Bellamy said. “Everybody was scoring. We were sharing the ball.”

The Rice women’s basketball team celebrates their win over Charlotte on Saturday. The Owls rode a strong first half to a 64-52 win on Senior Day.

The Owls pulled out to an early lead behind an 11-0 run, with all four baskets coming from seniors, and closed the first quarter up 21-10. However, it was not just the seniors who shined. With Bellamy in foul trouble after getting called for two in the first quarter, freshman center Shelby Hayes scored eight points in the final five-plus minutes to give the Owls a 16-point lead at the break. According to head coach Lindsay Edmonds, Hayes, who put up a career-high 18 points and her first career double-double, was the imposing interior presence the Owls needed on Saturday.

“Shelby [Hayes] was awesome,” Edmonds said. “She came in and gave us a spark off the

bench … She stepped out when India couldn’t be out there and she gave us exactly what we needed. She was big time on offensive rebounds. She’s putting the ball in the basket. She’s just someone that does whatever it takes to make the team better. She got rewarded tonight and I am so proud of her.”

A high-scoring third quarter saw the Owls extend their lead to 20, before a late 49er push brought the final score to 64-52. Overall, Edmonds said she was pleased with her team’s performance, but they did not play their best basketball in the fourth quarter.

“We’re really close,” Edmonds said. “I thought the first three quarters today were phenomenal. If we want to be picking it

apart, our fourth quarter wasn’t fantastic. So that maybe that’s something that we grow in, in March.”

After the game, Edmonds explained how important this senior class has been in the success of the team.

“I’m proud of the way that we send the seniors out on a high note,” Edmonds said. “So much of [our success] is their work, their recognition … We were at 14 wins last year, with seven or eight players and we got to 20 this year with games to go … [Just] really, really proud of this group for reaching that milestone.”

The win moved Rice into sole-possession of fourth place in Conference USA, with just two games left in the regular season. According to Edmonds, the team is playing some of its best basketball just in time for the C-USA tournament.

“We’re really close, we’re clicking on a lot of cylinders, our defenses stepped up, our offense is scoring the ball really at a really high clip,” Edmonds said. “We got two more regular season games, we got conference tournament, and then there’s gonna be life after the conference tournament as well … So I want to push them towards perfection as much as possible.”

The Owls will finish their regular season on the road this week with a game at Florida Atlantic University on Thursday at 6 p.m. and Florida International University on Saturday at 1 p.m.

Baseball sinks at Sunken Diamond, swept by No. 2 Stanford

“The biggest challenge for us this weekend was being able to click as a pitching staff and hitting staff,” Garza said. “I feel like our pitching staff did a great job keeping Stanford where we wanted them. On the offensive side, we struggled to get the big hits at the right time, myself included.”

“I think we understand that we are a good team,” Smith said. “We competed with Stanford and we [went really deep into the games], especially in games one and three, it just didn’t go our way.”

Cruz also explained that given his squad’s inexperience against teams like Stanford, the series showed the Owls’ potential.

The baseball team was swept by Stanford University, the No. 2 team in the country, last weekend. Despite the sweep, however, the Owls kept the first and third games of the series close, showing glimpses of what they hope to be a turnaround under second year head coach Jose Cruz Jr. According to Cruz, the opportunity to play against a topranked team this early in the season gave the Owls a spotlight to show what they have been building.

“We definitely wanted to compete with [Stanford] and just show that we are good enough to compete with them,” Cruz said.

The Owls opened the series with a lead, following a third inning single from graduate infielder Drew Holderbach that put them up 2-0 in game one. According to sophomore pitcher Parker Smith, who started the series opener, he wasn’t intimidated by one of the best offenses in the country.

“Not really [anything different in preparation], we have a very different approach towards that I believe,” Smith said. “Obviously I knew we were facing the number two team in the country, but we pitch to my strengths and their weaknesses.”

Smith finally conceded one run in the fourth inning, but the Owls maintained their lead until the Cardinal brought three runners home in the sixth inning to go up 4-2. Junior infielder Pierce Gallo cut the deficit at the top of the seventh inning with a home run to left-center field, but the momentum was short-lived as the Cardinal brought two runs home in the bottom of the seventh, sealing the game 6-3. Despite the loss, Cruz said the team had confidence heading into Saturday.

“We felt like we competed [well] enough to win the game, just fell a little bit short towards the end,” Cruz said. “We felt like we could stand up to anyone and have a chance to win, so we were definitely ready to go for Saturday.”

Saturday’s double-header, a result of inclement weather in the forecast for Sunday, did not begin as well for the Owls. Stanford quickly jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning and increased their tally as the game went on. After capping off the eighth inning with five runs, taking the lead to 11-1, the Cardinal finished with another win heading into the final game of the series. The Stanford pitchers combined for fifteen strikeouts in the second game, a trend which sophomore catcher Manny Garza said was indicative of the series as a whole.

The last game in the series saw the Owls tied up with the Cardinal for the majority of the game. Despite going down 4-2 at the end of the second inning, the Owls rallied back to even the game in the fourth inning after Garza and freshman Paul Smith scored courtesy of a bases-loaded walk and single. The game stayed even until a triple and sacrifice-fly gave Stanford three runs in the eighth inning, closing the series out with a 7-4 Cardinal win. According to Smith, despite the sweep, the Owls are still in good shape heading into the season.

EDITORIAL CARTOON

“We have a little bit of a rubber on the road and understand that we were just this close to beating one of the top teams in the nation,” Cruz said. “We’re still very young when it comes to playing [Stanford’s style of baseball] and we’re going to get some of that coming up this weekend, as well.”

The Owls head north to Huntsville on Wednesday to face Sam Houston State University, before returning to Houston for the three-game Shriners Hospital for Children College Classic at Minute Maid Park over the weekend.

“The transformation is almost complete.”

KATHERINE HUI / THRESHER

DIEGO PALOS RODRIGUEZ THRESHER STAFF

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS

Sophomore pitcher Parker Smith winds up against Stanford University on Friday. Smith and the Owls were swept on the weekend despite keeping games one and three close.

Fied the beast: MBB’s Fiedler does it all, on and off the court

HANSON SENIOR WRITER

It doesn’t take a basketball analyst to figure out which NBA player junior forward Max Fiedler models his game after, and it just so happens to be the player that the 6’11 forward from Indialantic, Florida has admired his whole life.

“I’m a big fan of Nikola Jokić,” Fiedler said. “I like the way he plays. I’ve liked him since early on in his NBA career, before he was twotime MVP. It’s going to be a three-time [MVP] this year. You’ve heard it here first.”

Jokić, one of the top centers in the league, is known for filling up the stat sheet, but also for his unique ability to facilitate the offense; he almost plays like a point guard, with flashy passes, despite being a 6’11” center. Fiedler, who facilitates the Owl’s motion offense from the top of the key, is known for crafty backdoor dishes and no-look assists, which have helped him lead Conference USA in assists this season with 5.0 per game. Fiedler credits his success as a passing big to his teammates.

“I think I can pass a little bit,” Fiedler said. “It helps having great teammates around me who can put them all in the basket. Just being unselfish [trying] to get other people going. Because, at the end of the day, some people see the ball go in the basket and it helps them get energized and lock in on the defensive end. And you know, two people are happy.”

Aside from passing, Fiedler also performs on the defensive end, putting up 7.9 rebounds per game, placing him second in C-USA. On offense, he’s averaging double-digit points on an efficient 72.0% shooting. In a pivotal

overtime win earlier this season, against the University of Texas at San Antonio, Fielder recorded just the second triple-double in Rice’s history with 24 points, 11 assists and 13 rebounds. Head coach Scott Pera emphasized how important Fiedler is on both sides of the ball.

“[Max] is an integral part of the team,” Pera said. “He has the ball in his hands in a majority of the possessions to make a decision for our offense. He is also a big part of our defense to anchor in that [he is] being a huge communicator and rebounder. I’ve seen him develop in both ways, taking large steps in terms of leadership as a person, communicating better with his teammates. And then as a player, you know, he’s developed into one of the best passing big men in the country, and is a key part to everything that we do.”

Despite being a large presence on the court, Fielder was known to be more reserved in the locker room, especially as a freshman.

“Being the new kid and not really knowing anyone and being away from home, I was still trying to figure out everything,” Fielder said. “I was just kind of soaking it all in trying to keep my head above water while trying to balance everything. As the years went on, I got a little more comfortable with everything.”

Now in his fourth year, and more comfortable in the locker room, Fielder said that he has stepped into more of a leadership role on the team.

“I just try to have a voice on the court, helping direct people and making sure everyone is attuned to what we need to be doing,” Fielder said. “And trying to get some

of the new guys up to speed quickly, which they’ve all done a great job with. I think I’m just trying to set an example of what needs to be done and, and how to go about doing it.”

Off the court, just as he is on the court, Fielder is a man of many talents. Growing up in a small coastal town in Florida, Fielder has been an avid surfer and fisher for nearly all of his life.

“I’ve been surfing since I was in elementary school,” Fiedler said. “Some of my friends love to do it back home and it’s a great way to be active and it’s just a good time. Fielder, a mathematical economic analysis major, has also received several awards for his work in the classroom. According to the two-time C-USA men’s basketball scholarathlete of the year, juggling both sports and academics comes down to time management.

“I’ve always really liked math, growing and I want to be somewhere I could kind of take those skills and put them to use,” Fielder said. “I definitely have to put some hours in studying for that, but it’s good. It keeps me busy. The moment you get up, to when you go to sleep, doing something that’s not just a complete waste of your time is super helpful.”

Feilder, who reached 1,000 career points in Saturday’s loss against University of North Carolina at Charlotte, said he hopes to continue to leave a mark on the program.

“I think I want people to say that [Max] is a good teammate and that he put the team over himself individually and was just a good guy to be around,” Fiedler said. “The coaches and my teammates have helped me a lot both on the court and off the court. I’m just super thankful for it.”

Junior forward Max Fiedler attempts a shot during a recent game. Fiedler has played a key role for the Owls this year, averaging the most assists and thirdmost rebounds in C-USA.

MBB needs to fix defense in time for tournament

The Rice men’s basketball team started the season firing on all cylinders, winning 11 of their first 14 games and finishing the month of January with a 15-6 record. However, the team struggled in February, losing six of the eight games they played during the month. Sitting sixth in Conference USA, with just two games left in the regular season, the Owls must figure out how to fix their flaws if they hope to make waves at the conference tournament next week.

Their problem is not scoring, as they have the third-best scoring offense in the conference and the No. 51 offense in the entire nation. The reason the Owls’ record does not reflect their offensive performance is the key to any championship team: a good defense. The Owls’ defensive unit is among the worst in the nation. Their 74.8

points allowed per game ranks No. 302 out of 352 teams in Division I basketball. Further, the team is allowing the highest field-goal percentage and second most points in the entire conference.

Earlier this season, it seemed the Owls had finally solved the defensive problem they’ve long struggled with. In two consecutive games in late January, Rice held its opponents under 65 points –the only two times they’ve done so this conference season. After that stretch, sophomore guard/ forward Cameron Sheffield said that their defense was finally turning into a strength.

“I feel like one of our improved strengths is defense,” Sheffield said. “That’s been at the forefront of our minds this year. We’ve been working on that since June in the summer. So I feel like that’s become one of our strengths recently.”

Around the same time, head coach Scott Pera pointed out that his team’s defense was still trying to improve as they entered a more critical stage of their season.

“I think, you know, defensively, we’re still a work in progress,” Pera said. “We’ve had some games that we’ve played really well defensively and there are some games where we’ve lost because we just haven’t been good enough defensively. It’s something we’re getting better at and will be really important down the stretch.”

Despite Pera’s remarks, the team has not only failed to show any signs of improvement on the defensive side, but they’ve regressed significantly. Since that two-game stretch, the Owls have allowed 70-plus points to every team they’ve played. In the first month of conference play, the Owls allowed an average of 73.33 points per game, but in February, this figure increased to 79.75. Their inability to prevent teams from scoring has been the cause of their recent stretch of conference losses, and the team must make some adjustments in order to prevent this from inhibiting them from reaching their goals in March.

Despite their recent defensive woes, the team still has room for optimism. If Pera is able to better use the height that the Owls have at the forward position, with 6’11” junior Max Fiedler and 6’11” freshman Ifeanyi Ufochukwu, the Owls can help thwart offenses come conference tournament time. With an already overpowering offense, the Owls need some slight improvement on the defensive side to achieve their lofty goals during the postseason.

The Owls will close the season at home against Florida Atlantic University on March 2, and Senior Day against Florida International University on March 4. With a 72% chance of finishing the regular season as the sixth seed in the C-USA, the Owls will need to find their defense if they hope to compete in the conference tournament next week.

Pavithr Goli ASST. SPORTS EDITOR

CADAN

COURTESY RICE ATHLETICS

COLUMN

Sitting sixth in Conference USA, with just two games left in the regular season, the Owls must figure out how to fix their flaws if they hope to make waves at the conference tournament next week.

Happy Wednesday, Rice community! Following you meddling kids figuring out that you can give OC students your swipes, Housing & Dining is excited to announce an update to dining at Rice. Now that many residential colleges are in the midst of their Housing Jacks, we at H&D have decided that the H isn’t enough—we must jack the D. Now introducing...

D I N I N G J A C K

Each meal, students will line up at the servery entrance to participate in an initial Eligibility Jack to determine whether they will be allowed to enter. Any student that makes it past Eligibility Jack will then participate in Station Jack to select where they will get food from for the meal period, determined based on the student’s number of dining points.

Sample map of North Servery:

For instance, students jacking at North Servery with the highest number of dining points would be able to choose to eat from their station of choice, such as the Wok and dessert station. Spots at other stations would then be filled in descending order of dining point priority until the milk station, where students with the lowest priority would be able to get their meal.

An elected Director of Consumption will be established at each college to oversee the new Dining Jack program and spearhead H&D’s zero food waste initiative by allocating leftovers to those who either failed to pass Eligibility Jack or did not receive their station of choice. The DoC would have guaranteed eligibility at all meals.

Non-freshmen will have the opportunity to obtain additional dining points by meeting various criteria. By default, seniors begin with three dining points, juniors begin with two, and sophomores begin with one. Note: Freshmen are guaranteed entry to the servery during Eligibility Jack but will enter Station Jack with the lowest priority at zero dining points.

Dining Point Opportunities

+ 0.5 Completion of two service hours*

+ 0.25 Eating OC the previous meal

+ 0.25 Composting your last meal’s scraps/donating them to ineligible students

+ 1.0 Reporting @ricediningreality to Instagram

+ 0.5 Being nice to the card swipe person

*Service hour opportunities include: testing chicken rarity; screening meals for unexpected critters, items, etc.; smacking the fork dispenser until it starts dispensing again

Dining Jacks will begin after the Spring Recess. Stay tuned for early next week as H&D rolls out our new plans for Laundry Jack!

Thresher, written this week by Ndidi Nwosu, Andrew Kim, and Timmy Mansfield and designed by Lauren Yu. For questions or comments, please email dilfhunter69@rice.edu.

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Earn $400 in a single weekend: Philosophy Majors Accepted! The STEM Global Education Network (STEM GEN) is looking for someone to dedicate one weekend to edit a document that will form the basis of a proposal to UNESCO. Interested applicants can send your CV and example of your writing to enquires@stem-gen.org

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